A minute-by-minute review of the season opener.
UPDATED: 12:50 a.m.
Dan Herron (1) and the rest of the Ohio State offense found plenty of room to roam in building a 35-7 lead against overmatched Marshall in the first half of Thursday night's season opener at Ohio Stadium.INSIDE THE VEST
Get ready for this debate all season, one that Jim Tressel will have with himself as well. How long should he keep Terrelle Pryor in the game, when his quarterback is in the Heisman running, the Buckeyes are in the national title race and second-half blowouts should continue to occur?
Thursday night, Miami quarterback Jacory Harris sat out the second half of a 45-0 blowout of Florida A&M after completing 12 of 15 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. Tressel kept Pryor into the game into the fourth quarter against Marshall, as he finished 16-of-23 for 242 yards and three touchdowns.
Tressel did get his second-team offensive line and second-team receivers into the game early, and worked second-team defenders into the first-team rotation throughout. That worked well.
Tressel always lived dangerously with how long he kept Troy Smith in the game during blowouts in Smith’s Heisman season in 2006. Expect the coach to do the same with Pryor this season. There will be times when you think Pryor should be on the bench. But Tressel has been through this before. And he’s probably not going to change.
— Doug Lesmerises
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A minute-by-minute review of the season opener, which ended happily with a 45-7 romp for the Buckeyes.
6:40 p.m.: Ohio State Jim Tressel is on the field during pre-game warmups, chatting with Marshall coach Doc Holliday, and he is not wearing a sweater vest. On the day that the Plain Dealer referenced Tressel's typical attire while previewing his 10th season at Ohio State, this is a startling revelation. Sure, the temperature is 92 degrees for the Buckeyes' opener with the Thundering Herd, but could Tressel really be changing his routine for the first time since 2002?
Fans just worked so hard to save one tradition, voicing their opinions to ensure that the Ohio State-Michigan game remained the last game of the regular season. Will OSU AD Gene Smith now be getting emails about what his football coach wears on the sideline?
7:24: Crisis averted. After returning to the locker room, Tressel leads the Buckeyes' charge out of the tunnel wearing a gray sweater vest over his white short-sleeved dress shirt and red tie. So this is the same old Tressel. But will the Buckeyes be the same old Buckeyes, a team that sometimes starts slowly on offense and looks less than sharp in early nonconference games?
7:27: Always interested to see who inherits the role of leading the Buckeyes in their midfield bounce. One Buckeye stands in the middle of a mass of his teammates, removing his helmet and barking out motivation. Two years ago it was Malcolm Jenkins. Last season, Thaddeus Gibson. This year, Nate Oliver, a fourth-year junior backup safety from St. Ed.
7:29: What does having six captains mean? It means they can't all go out for the coin toss. Four is the limit, so for the opener, Brian Rolle and Bryant Browning hang back as Ross Homan, Cameron Heyward, Brandon Saine and Dane Sanzenbacher head to midfield.
7:33: The Buckeyes were concerned about their special teams coverage units a year ago, Tressel feeling that injuries to their depth at linebacker and safety cost them good cover guys. Backup linebackers are at the heart of those cover units, as Rolle proved in the past. Rolle said one of the players he was emphasizing that to in camp was freshman Dorian Bell, who redshirted a year ago.
So in his first play as an Ohio State Buckeye, the former star recruit from Western Pennsylvania cracks Marshall return man Andre Booker, forcing a fumble that is recovered by ... Oliver. This should not be the last time you hear Bell's name on special teams this year.
7:34: It's only one play. But it's the first play of a season that OSU fans hope, and anticipate, ends in the BCS National Championship. It's the first play after Terrelle Pryor threw 37 passes while winning offensive MVP honors in a Rose Bowl victory. It's the first play of a season in which Pryor is supposed to put it all together. So what is it?
Shotgun. Flanked by both tailbacks, Brandon Saine and Dan Herron. And a pass to, egads, the tight end, as Jake Stoneburner makes the catch for an 11-yard gain. As a snapshot of what fans hope the OSU offense becomes, you couldn't do much better.
7:35: Touchdown DeVier Posey in the front left corner of the end zone, hauling in a six-yard pass from Pryor on third down. They look like two guys who have worked together for three years - which they are.
7:44: After the defense forces a three-and-out from Marshall, and Jordan Hall shows off a nice little move on a 12-yard punt return, Saine breaks off a 40-yard run, then finishes the drive with a 4-yard touchdown on a toss right. It's 14-0 Ohio State.
Saine's 45-yard touchdown run will come later, but only after Marshall blocks an Ohio State 53-yard field goal try and returns it for a touchdown. Pryor will answer that with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Dane Sanzenbacher.
There is more game to play and a season ahead, but consider what has happened in 11 minutes of real time and 4:33 of game time. In a season when hopes are so high, were these 11 minutes, against an obviously overmatched team with a first-year coaching staff, what the Buckeyes needed?
Tressel wore the usual. The Buckeyes looked a little better than that.